


Never an Easy Fight

by luxdancer



Category: Hunter: the Reckoning, World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: Drabble, Ficlet, RPG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 07:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxdancer/pseuds/luxdancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short ficlet about some NPC Hunters that were working in and around the city where the game was set.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never an Easy Fight

She remembered what her old mentor had said to her, that strange old Korean man with his steady, steady hands. "One day, everyone will be where we are. All things will become illuminated." Back then she had been lost for a time, throwing herself into the darkness over and over in hopes of pushing it back from the little flickers of light that still remained. She would have died there, alone and blind, sacrificed in futility, if Hyun-Shin had not found her, dragged her out of her desperation into a place of clarity.

"One day, your mission will no longer be necessary." He had said to her when they parted ways.

But not today.

She opened her eyes, the sharp scent of saltwater pervading her senses. The boat bounced heavily on the white-capped waves, shaking and rolling, the clattering of steel and wood and fiberglass. She could feel the quiet tension of her allies, her friends, her family. Only Molly seemed free of anxiety, pressed against the bow of the ship with her long black hair whipping behind her like streamers in the wind.

When Molly glanced back at her and nodded slightly, Megan killed the engine and the boat slowed to a stop. Paige dropped anchor, one on each side, and double-checked that the motor would pull them back up efficiently. They began to strip down, zipping up their wet suits, silent except for the lull of the ocean and the waves slapping against the ship. Clea pulled a life-preserver over Molly's head and strapped the girl into it, sitting her down in the captain's chair.

"Ok," Jace said, hefting up a shotgun. "What's the plan, boss?" He always called her boss.

Megan looked around at her crew and then up at Molly, who was looking out past the horizon with her distant eyes. "How long have we got?"

"You'll know." The teenager replied cryptically.

"The plan," Megan said quietly. "All right. When we get the first indication that the thing is awake, we start sending down those depth charges. By Molly's... calculations, the depth that they're set to go off and the time it'll take to get to the surface will mean they'll explode when they meet." She glanced around the deck of the boat, at the shining waters, at the clear sky. It was a perfect summer's day, like they should be on a pleasure cruise, lounging in the sun and having cold beers. "If that doesn't stop it, it'll surface and it'll be pissed. What it wants is in the cities, on the land, it won't go back to sleeping. It's hungry and awake. Which is why we're here. To stop it."

She gestured at the harpoon gun that had been hastily bolted to the floor of the boat, Paige had been working on securing it while they moved out this morning. "We can't be sure which way it will head, to the Island or towards Seattle."

"I'm betting on Seattle," Father Morgan commented. "More people there."

"At any rate, we need to stop it here. Vancouver and Seattle have a line of defense, but we're it for the Island." Her crew nodded. "I know this isn't our area of expertise. We aren't Marines. But we're all we've got." Megan paused. "So when it surfaces, I want the harpoon, get as good of a shot as you can, Paige. Molly, when we've got it on line, I want you to hit that reverse and keep the pedal to the floor. If it changes course, switch up gears. I don't want it dragging the boat down and I don't want to lose it. The rest of you, fire at will. If it dives, we drop the short length depth charges." She studied the grim, determined faces of her crew, uniform in the dark-grey material of their wet suits and the bright yellow of their life jackets. "Stay safe, people, and try to stay on the boat. Let's get to work."

They took up their positions, Paige at the canisters of depth charges nearest to their harpoon gun and Jace and Father Morgan at either side of the boat. Clea steadied herself and found her balance at the center of the deck, holding her shotgun at ready. Megan stood beside Molly, looking down at the scene, with one hand on the hilt of her machete and the other on her shotgun.

There was a long moment of quiet, like a bated breath, waiting, waiting for something to happen. It was the worst part, dreading whatever slept in the depths of the sea, in the dreams of a teenage girl cursed with the second-sight.

Then there was a tremor, a moan not so much heard as felt, from deep beneath them, the shudder of the earth as something wrenched it open and let it close behind it, like a vast heavy gate. The ocean began to shift wildly and Molly whispered, barely audible above the storming waves, "It's here."

"Go! Go!" And they snapped into action, rolling the charges off the deck and into the blue-black sea. Molly counted down beside her, imaginary points of increasing pressure marked off in her head. They watched those canisters disappear, carrying with them the hope of a quick conclusion, an easy fight.

Megan realized, even before the thing emerged from the deeps, that in their line of work, there was no such thing as an easy fight.


End file.
